Ted Cruz Trumps Mike Pence

It was supposed to be Mike Pence’s night. The Indiana governor and Republican vice presidential nominee was supposed to own Wednesday evening at the convention. Instead, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) stole the show with what will be remembered as a non-endorsement for the ages.

Cruz’s critics and friends were quick to describe his speech in ways that were consistent with their perspectives. Erick Erickson, a die-hard Cruz fan, said the principled, high-risk speech put to rest the idea that Cruz is a conniving politician, while many in the media said Cruz’s speech was the start of his 2020 campaign, regardless of whether Trump is in the White House.

Both perspectives are correct. The real Ted Cruz embodies the mixed motives of politicians and the schizophrenia of modern American politics.

Full disclosure: I’m among those who have been fairly critical of Cruz. I’ve described him as the Kanye West of conservatism, our insufferable superstar who rushed the political stage. I’ve described him as more of a French revolutionary than an American revolutionary, the Robespierre (the opportunist-purger) who set the stage for Napoleon (Trump). And I’ve labeled him an evangelical nihilist, a person of genuine faith who has bought into a culture that has been overtaken by postmodernism, narcissistic exhibitionism and “burn it down” politics.

Cruz’s speech was consistent with his past. It was brazenly self-serving, principled and wise. Better men, like former Florida governor Jeb Bush, some would argue, may have stayed away or offered an actual agenda — “A Better Way,” like Paul Ryan.

Still, Cruz at least showed up and delivered a message a majority of Republican primary voters were thinking but were being told they shouldn’t say in a convention that was supposed to be a safe space for Donald Trump.

Cruz understands that the NeverTrump movement views the real estate magnate as someone who is, at best, not really a Republican but is renting the party for a few months. At worst, they view him as a ghastly chimera — a fusion of David Koresh, Malcolm X and Slobodan Milosevic. Trump is worst than a racist because he’s an opportunistic cult-of-personality politician who is using White Power nationalistic rhetoric to seize power and purge enemies. Cruz understands these concerns. His speech proved as much.

To those concerned that Trump’s national-populist “Americanism” rhetoric is actually anti-American because it suggests America is defined by borders rather than beliefs, Cruz said:

“America is more than just a land mass between two oceans, America is an ideal. A simple, yet powerful ideal. Freedom matters.”

To those concerned that Trump’s trade platform is plagiarized from Bernie Sanders and Dick Gephardt circa 1988 and relies on an unconstitutional application of state power in order to tell private companies what to do, Cruz said:

“For much of human history government power has been the unavoidable constant in life. Government decrees and the people obey, but not here. We have no king or queen, we have no dictator, we the people constrain government.”

To those who believe Trump is running as a conservative Malcolm X, a champion of White Power conservative political correctness that believes latent racism on the Left justifies blatant racism on the Right, Cruz said:

“Our party, the Republican party, was founded to defeat slavery.

Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Together we passed the Civil Rights Act, and together we fought to eliminate Jim Crow Laws.

That’s our collective legacy, although the media will never share it with you. Those were fights for freedom, and so is this.”

To those concerned that Trump became the nominee by appealing to people’s worst fears rather than their highest aspirations, Cruz said:

“We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love. That is the standard we should expect from everybody.”

Finally, to those who believe the RNC and the Trump campaign made a grave miscalculation by coercing delegates to not hold a roll-call vote on the convention rules that would have allowed delegates who wanted to vote their conscience to let off steam, Cruz said:

“If you love our country, and love our children as much as you do, stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom, and to be faithful to the constitution” (emphasis added).

The “vote your conscience” line will be remembered as the words that triggered boos.

Voters will decide whether this was a moment Cruz lit a beacon for freedom, or simply lit himself on fire. Regardless, it was a quintessential Cruz moment that demonstrated his devotion to self-government and self-immolation.

Even if it’s the latter, history may say that Cruz’s self-sacrifice was worth it and appropriate penance for the months he served as Trump’s doppelganger on the campaign trail.

To the Trumpstablishment, it may not feel like it now, but Cruz’s speech may move the party from faux unity to real unity by giving voice to the deep and profound concerns about Trump. Calling Never Trumpers like George Will “idiots” doesn’t do much for party unity. But Cruz’s speech just might.

John Hart is Editor-in-Chief of Opportunity Lives. You can follow him on Twitter @johnhart333.

Originally published at OpportunityLives.com